Alabama doubles Lane Kiffin's salary to $1.4M this season

The university trustees' compensation committee approved Kiffin's new $1.4 million deal Friday. It runs from July 1, 2016 to Feb. 28, 2017.

He made $714,000 last season under a three-year deal that ran through this season.

Kiffin was the only returning assistant who didn't get a raise in June. He had been receiving a buyout from USC.

"It was a significant amount and that ended June 30 of this year," athletic director Bill Battle told trustees. "It is what the top coordinators are making and Lane has been very effective for us the two years that he's been here. We feel like this is very appropriate for what he should be making."

Alabama has made the playoffs with new starting quarterbacks in each of Kiffin's first two years, including last season's national title. The new salary would have put him alongside Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables as college football's fifth-highest paid assistant in 2015, according to USA Today. The top four were all in the Southeastern Conference, led by then-Auburn defensive coordinator Will Muschamp at $1.6 million.

Kiffin is a former Oakland Raiders, Tennessee and Southern California head coach who was a finalist for the Frank Broyles Award given to the nation's top assistant in 2014. That season, Alabama's Blake Sims set a school record with 3,487 passing yards.

New defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt is making $1 million annually on his three-year deal.